United States Department of the Air Force, Fairchild Air Force Base (Activity) and Fairchild Federal Employees' Union (Petitioner/Exclusive Representative) and American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (Interested Party/Labor Organization) (Authority decision, January 28, 2015)

Final FLRA decision. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7105(f), the regional director's decision and order became the action of the Authority when the Authority did not undertake review within the applicable period. This notice says the Authority will take no further action in this representation case. An order involving an appropriate-unit determination under 5 U.S.C. § 7112 falls within the judicial-review exclusion in 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(2).

Plain-English summary

The Air Force sought review of a regional director's decision and order in a bargaining-unit representation case. The request was filed while the Authority lacked a quorum. After regaining a quorum, the Authority did not undertake review within the period required by 5 U.S.C. § 7105(f). The director's decision and order therefore became the action of the Authority, and the Authority notified the parties that it would take no further action.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 5 U.S.C. §§ 7105(f) and 7123(a)(2)
• Outcome: The Authority took no further action; the regional director's order became the Authority's action.
• Key point: A regional director's decision becomes the Authority's action when a timely review application is not taken up within the statutory period.

Full text (FLRA public release)

68 FLRA No. 44

UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE
(Activity)

and

FAIRCHILD FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ UNION
(Petitioner/Exclusive Representative)

and

AMERICAN FEDERATION

OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

AFL-CIO
(Interested Party/Labor Organization)

SF-RP-12-0042

_____

NOTICE

January 28, 2015

______

Before the Authority: Carol Waller Pope, Chairman, and

Ernest DuBester and Patrick Pizzella, Members

In FDIC,[1] the Authority held that, under § 7105(f) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute,[2] the Authority had sixty days from the date on which it regained its quorum – November 12, 2013 – to undertake to grant an application for review that had been filed while the Authority lacked a quorum.[3] The Authority further held that, because it had not undertaken to grant review within that sixty-day period, the regional director’s decision and order in that case became “the action of the Authority” after January 11, 2014.[4]

The application for review in this case also was filed when the Authority lacked a quorum. For the same reasons set forth in FDIC, because the Authority did not undertake to grant review of the application by January 11, 2014, the Regional Director’s decision and order in this case became the action of the Authority after that date. Accordingly, consistent with FDIC, we hereby notify the parties that the Authority is taking no further action in this case.

[1] 68 FLRA 260 (2015).

[2] 5 U.S.C. § 7105(f).

[3] FDIC, 68 FLRA at 260.

[4] Id. at 262 (internal quotation marks omitted).